Overview

In Contested Treasure, Thomas Barton examines how the Jews in the Crown of Aragon in the twelfth through fourteenth centuries negotiated the overlapping jurisdictions and power relations of local lords and the crown. The thirteenth century was a formative period for the growth of royal bureaucracy and the development of the crown's legal claims regarding the Jews. While many Jews were under direct royal authority, significant numbers of Jews also lived under nonroyal and seigniorial jurisdiction. Barton argues that royal authority over the Jews (as well as Muslims) was far more modest and contingent on local factors than is usually recognized. Diverse case studies reveal that the monarchy's Jewish policy emerged slowly, faced considerable resistance, and witnessed limited application within numerous localities under nonroyal control, thus allowing for more highly differentiated local modes of Jewish administration and coexistence. Contested Treasure refines and complicates our portrait of interfaith relations and the limits of royal authority in medieval Spain, and it presents a new approach to the study of ethnoreligious relations and administrative history in medieval European society.

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Reviews

Barton makes plain how the issue of Christian jurisdiction over Jews must be studied within the wider framework of the evolution of royal authority and its interaction with local power structures. Conversely, historians of governance in Iberia can learn much by looking at the position of Jews (and Muslims) in the evolving Christian kingdoms of the peninsula. This approach yields a much more nuanced image of Iberia than is usually given. Anna Sapir Abulafia, Journal of Ecclesiastical History

[Contested Treasure] is closely researched and well written, offering valuable insights into the often tragic experiences of this religious minority whose residence in one of the more liberal kingdoms of medieval Europe nonetheless required the utmost survival skills to maintain a precarious position. J. F. Powers, Choice

Administrative history seldom makes riveting reading, but Barton wisely calls repeated attention to how the Tortosan case illumines similar developments elsewhere in Iberia and western Europe. Tortosa was neither an anomaly nor a fixed precedent for the evolution of regalian rights and baronial lordship vis-a-vis Jewish subjects, and this finely argued book reminds us of the protean nature of that evolution. Clifford Backman, The Medieval Review

This is an outstandingly good book. It is skillfully researched, thoughtful, carefully argued and solid in its conclusions. It is a very fine contribution to its various subjects and especially helps us to deepen our understanding of the nature and extent of royal authority, not only in lands of the Crown of Aragon but elsewhere in Medieval Europe. -Damian J. Smith, Bulletin of Spanish Studies Barton's thorough archival work and measured analysis are of undeniable value. With them, he offers ample proof that the legal status of minorities was in flux throughout the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and that as a result it is essential to avoid generalizations that assume a uniform and universal royal policy or a consistent minority experience of royal protection. -Ryan Szpiech, Speculum Administrative history seldom makes riveting reading, but Barton wisely calls repeated attention to how the Tortosan case illumines similar developments elsewhere in Iberia and western Europe. Tortosa was neither an anomaly nor a fixed precedent for the evolution of regalian rights and baronial lordship vis-a-vis Jewish subjects, and this finely argued book reminds us of the protean nature of that evolution. -Clifford Backman, The Medieval Review [Contested Treasure] is closely researched and well written, offering valuable insights into the often tragic experiences of this religious minority whose residence in one of the more liberal kingdoms of medieval Europe nonetheless required the utmost survival skills to maintain a precarious position. -J. F. Powers, Choice This finely grained analysis provides an important guide to understanding medieval Jewry law in the Kingdom of Aragon and other medieval kingdoms. Contested Treasure is an important contribution to medieval European history, Sephardic studies, and Iberian history. -Jane S. Gerber, Renaissance Quarterly Barton makes plain how the issue of Christian jurisdiction over Jews must be studied within the wider framework of the evolution of royal authority and its interaction with local power structures. Conversely, historians of governance in Iberia can learn much by looking at the position of Jews (and Muslims) in the evolving Christian kingdoms of the peninsula. This approach yields a much more nuanced image of Iberia than is usually given. -Anna Sapir Abulafia, Journal of Ecclesiastical History Barton has made a significant, innovative, and durable contribution to the scholarly discussion regarding ethno-religious coexistence in the realms of the Crown of Aragon and the development of premodern royal authority. -Zita Eva Rohr, Sixteenth Century Journal The publication of Thomas Barton's monograph on the contested jurisdiction over Jews in the Catalan town of Tortosa is a momentous historiographic event. -Maya Soifer Irish, American Academy of Research Historians of Medieval Spain An excellent and well-documented history, a detailed and precise study of political power and Christian-Jewish relations in the Middle Ages. -Hernan Matzkevich, Shofar Focusing on Tortosa as a case study, Thomas Barton's exhaustively researched and well-crafted book offers an insightful intervention into one of the thorniest historiographical questions: what was the nature and extent of royal jurisdiction over Jews in the medieval Crown of Aragon? In a compelling fashion, Barton shows that Tortosa was not an anomaly but in line with the manner in which the crown, religious and municipal entities, local lords, and the Jews themselves negotiated issues of political and fiscal jurisdiction. By problematizing the issue and refusing to accept monochrome interpretations, Contested Treasure makes a timely contribution to our understanding of these questions. This is a wonderful and insightful book! -Teofilo F. Ruiz, UCLA Thomas Barton's study of the Jews in the Crown of Aragon, focusing on Tortosa, is a major contribution to an ongoing discussion of assertion of and resistance to regalian authority in the kingdom. Barton is quite aware of the distinctiveness of Tortosan developments, but he also makes a strong case for deeper similarities with developments elsewhere. His study adds to other scholars' recent reevaluation of the jurisdictional disputes among ecclesiastics and lay authorities elsewhere in Europe and the implications of these disputes for the lived experience of vulnerable groups. I regard Barton's book as an extraordinarily fine and fine-grained piece of work. -William Chester Jordan, Princeton University Through a rich and instructive case study of Tortosa, Contested Treasure explores the complex process whereby the kings of the medieval Crown of Aragon sought to establish the primacy of their jurisdiction over Muslim and Jewish communities. In so doing, this highly compelling book provides fresh insight into the fragmented yet interconnected nature of power in the medieval Mediterranean. -Paola Tartakoff, Rutgers University Contested Treasure represents a significant advance in understanding the situation of the Jews in the Crown of Aragon by showing how contingent and contested royal claims of jurisdiction were. The power of seigneurial control over Jews has never been clearer. Thomas Barton presents the reader with a fascinating history of Tortosa after its conquest by Christian armies-an exotic and complicated city of trade and agriculture ruled by an uneasy complex of church, noble, and royal administrations governing a substantial Jewish, Muslim, and Christian population. Contested Treasure is an intriguing and meticulous account of how a multicultural society really functioned and of the people who tried to control and exploit it. -Paul Freedman, Yale University Barton's book will be of major interest to historians charting the social interactions between minority groups in the Iberian Peninsula and secular or ecclesiastical authority. There is little more than passing mention of ecclesiastical jurisdiction (p. 189), and Barton highlights a significant contrast with the situation prevailing in many Jewish communities in neighbouring Castile. The author frequently references the recent work of Soifer Irish dealing with the church and the Jews in Castile and that of Ray and others. This valuable contribution complements theirs in portraying the vivid and complex patchwork of administrative and jurisdictional authorities affecting the Jewish minority in late medieval Spain. -Cecil Reid, Journal of Transcultural Medieval Studies Thomas W. Barton's masterfully executed study of the Crown of Aragon's jurisdictional authority over Jews between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries thoughtfully contributes to the burgeoning scholarship on the definitions of power, authority, and convivencia in the medieval Mediterranean. -Amy Austin, The Catalan Review

Contested Treasure represents a significant advance in understanding the situation of the Jews in the Crown of Aragon by showing how contingent and contested royal claims of jurisdiction were. The power of seigneurial control over Jews has never been clearer. Thomas Barton presents the reader with a fascinating history of Tortosa after its conquest by Christian armies--an exotic and complicated city of trade and agriculture ruled by an uneasy complex of church, noble, and royal administrations governing a substantial Jewish, Muslim, and Christian population. Contested Treasure is an intriguing and meticulous account of how a multicultural society really functioned and of the people who tried to control and exploit it. --Paul Freedman, Yale University

Contested Treasure represents a significant advance in understanding the situation of the Jews in the Crown of Aragon by showing how contingent and contested royal claims of jurisdiction were. The power of seigneurial control over Jews has never been clearer. Thomas Barton presents the reader with a fascinating history of Tortosa after its conquest by Christian armies--an exotic and complicated city of trade and agriculture ruled by an uneasy complex of church, noble, and royal administrations governing a substantial Jewish, Muslim, and Christian population. Contested Treasure is an intriguing and meticulous account of how a multicultural society really functioned and of the people who tried to control and exploit it. --Paul Freedman, Yale University

Author Information

Thomas W. Barton is Associate Professor of History at the University of San Diego.

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